Mining Ban Saves 1 Million Acres of Tortoise Habitat

In one of the largest land withdrawals the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) has ever enacted, late last month the agency blocked new mining claims
on nearly 1 million acres of southern Nevada land for the next 20 years. The
land in question, made up of federally designated "areas of environmental
concern" due to encroaching development, is home to threatened desert
tortoise and endangered birds, fish, and plants. These areas also happen to
be historic hotspots for gold mining.

The Center for Biological Diversity has been working to defend the desert
tortoise for decades, including waging a successful campaign to close an
immense cinder mine in Mojave tortoise habitat and filing a 2009 notice of
intent to sue the feds over a faulty land-management plan in Nevada, which
would hurt the tortoise and other species.

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